KELSIE ABBT
Special to The Leader
On Oct. 4 at 2 p.m. in the Juliet J Rosch Recital Hall in Mason Hall, biology professor Jonathan Titus gave a speech titled “The Forest, Not Just the Trees.”
“The Forest” is one of an annual series of lectures in memoriam of Robert M. Kasling, a geography professor at SUNY Fredonia from 1946–1966, who, according to the Kasling Award criteria, “fostered in others that unflinching personal integrity and high standard of scholarship for which he is especially remembered.” Each year, the college invites a distinguished member of its faculty to describe a particular research or creative activity related to their field. Kasling Lectures are intended to “broaden the understanding of research being undertaken at Fredonia.”
The last Biology Department Kasling Lecture was in 2013, when William Brown described “Extraordinary Insect Behavior.”
Titus has been a member of the Biology Department since 2005 and is a professor of a wide degree of courses, from introductory biology and ecology to advanced and study abroad courses. He himself has studied in many locations including Las Vegas; Seattle; Gainesville, Florida; Schenectady, New York; and even České Budějovice in the Czech Republic. His research focus involves plant ecology and, luckily for students, most of his current research takes place in the natural areas within western New York.
Titus’ lecture focused on some of the extensive changes happening to area forests including SUNY Fredonia’s own College Lodge as well as the woodlot, or “Forever Wild.”
Samantha Fleming, a junior biology major who worked on research with Titus this past summer, described some of their research.
“We went around to various wetlands and forests in western New York and measured things like tree diameters, understory plant growth — we identified the species present and estimated how many there were — and tree disease. This is a part of a long-term study to mark how the forests look today, so there is data later on about the particular ways the forests have been impacted by global climate change,” Fleming said.
Some of Titus’ research focuses on the insurgence of an aggressive invasive species of insect called the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid. Titus and his wife, Priscilla, were the first to discover evidence of HWA in Chautauqua County last year. Symptoms of HWA infestation can be seen on many trees in the Forever Wild, identified by white sacs that resemble cotton swabs at the base of the tree’s needles. If left uncontrolled, HWA can kill a tree in a single year.
Additionally, Titus has also helped pioneer a deer exclosure at Jamestown Audubon to study the effects of what he explains as the “dramatic effects that deer are having upon our forests.” He reveals that several native species have already started to recover in the areas that deer are barred from.
As a professor, Titus inspires his students to “go out and explore, learn, always ask questions and be a little outrageous,” said sophomore environmental studies major Girard Marotto.
Veronica Arce, a junior English major and previous student of Titus’, explained how the professor had “heavily changed [her] life” through what she learned from him, particularly through a “no-impact experiment” Titus does in his classes.
“Since the day I started his class to now, I have been hooked on changing the way I live to a standard that would affect our environment less,” Arce said. “Since [the ‘no-impact’ experiment], I have not [used] a plastic water bottle, I refuse to use plastic bags, I walk and bike farther, and I’ve reduced so many unnecessary items from daily consumption.”
“I’ve had … Titus for two classes, and he has been a mentor to me ever since,” said senior geology major Kelsea Rogers. “The door to his Persian-carpeted office is always wide open.”
Rogers reflected that Titus’ lectures “bring you on a roller coaster through the wondrous and despairing truths of science. An example of how we can always do more, he demonstrates that success is a balance of selfless passion, as well as academia.”
“If anyone can evoke a person to want to do more for the environment,” Arce agrees, “it is Jon Titus.”